68. Eager young minds.

Yesterday, Adam and I went to my old high school, James River, to talk to the Shakespeare classes (that’s right – there is a whole class dedicated to Shakespeare! I took it for two years when I was there) about working on productions.

We had a blast.

Those kids were fantastic. They were incredibly respectful, responsive, and asked great questions. Adam stole the show with his repertoire of character voices from As You Like It (where he was Le Beau, Touchstone, Duke Senior, Phoebe, and Oliver…the five-actor format is nothing if not demanding) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (where he was Demetrius, Bottom, and a couple fairies). We both gave impromptu performances, and I got to play Richard III to his Buckingham and William to his Touchstone, and I delivered some of my Really Long, Difficult to Memorize Weather Monologue as Titania.

It turns out that next year, the class will cease to exist…James River High School is unable to keep the Shakespeare program. But they will have the club, so my hope is that Adam and I (and hopefully some others) will be able to keep going back to visit. It is so exciting to see these students genuinely interested in Shakespeare, and I really hope that I can do my part to make sure that the interest continues.